Big Bend National Park, Texas Trip, February 2014, Part 2

 

This is Michigan March 6, 2014. 

At Riverside Park in Ottawa County, Michigan. Yes, there is a fence under that snow, probably about 3 feet high.

 We have had an exceptionally cold and snowy winter in Michigan.  Grand Haven is on the shores of Lake Michigan and since the lake is usually warmer than the air we get "lake effect snow", that gives us much more snow than just 20 miles inland. 

 

This winter the Great Lakes have been almost completely frozen over, so I guess all this snow is just "regular" snow.  It is white and cold, also beautiful, fun, and amazing.



Here is a photo taken from my front porch.  March 6th, so how long before we see spring wildflowers?  I wonder what those plants are doing under all that snow?

We heat our house with a rather small wood burning stove in our living room. We do have a furnace, but it burns propane.  The last time I got the propane tank filled it was $686.10, $3.29 per gallon!  So basically we have one warm room, and several cold rooms.  If I'm cold I just imagine a very hot, humid day in summer, and think, oh that air conditioning feels great. 

Last month we went to Texas to visit our son Andrew, he lives in Midland.  We took a trip to Big Bend while we were there and the temperature, at times, was in the 90's.

We stayed in Terlingua for three nights, using this as our home base.  One hike was Indian Head Trail.

 Again we all jump in the car and Andy drives down some unmarked two-track to a very cool place to hike.

The boulders were huge.  Unreal, really.  That is Andy next to the rock, he is a regular sized guy. 

 

The trail comes past a small spring, you can see the water in the center of the picture.  It was just a bit precarious along this trail, if you fell it wouldn't have been far, but it still would have hurt.

After this hike it was time for river rafting on the Rio Grande, the river is the border between Texas and Mexico.  I have never been river rafting, I wasn't sure I wanted to go river rafting.  We were signed up for an expedition that afternoon with a group called Far Flung Outdoor Center http://bigbendfarflung.com/. 

 The Rio Grande River from the Mexico side where we stopped for a snack.

 Six of us were in the larger raft, including our very knowledgeable guide Billy.  Billy really knows his stuff, from mountains, to turtles, to rafting, and he was just a fun kind of guy.  Two other people were with on the trip, in an inflatable canoe.

The trip wasn't scary at all, just a few small rapids.  It was fun.  Back in the loading lot, I found more beautiful flowers.

 The trip by bus from Far Flung headquarters to the launch spot was about 40 miles.  It was a beautiful drive along 170, and Billy was filling us in with all sorts of interesting bits of history.

That evening the weather was perfect for sitting outside watching the sun go down.

 The next day was our last in Big Bend and it was disappearing fast. Everyone had work or school the next morning, and we had a flight to catch first thing.

We packed up and stopped at Hot Springs, on the east side of the park.  We took a short walk to the hot springs.

 

This wildflower has been identified by my very wise, much older sister, Marie.  It has special significance since it is known to bloom along this trail to Hot Springs.

Yellow rocknettle, Yellow stingbush (Eucnide bartonioides)
Blazingstar Family
Yellow rocknettle can be found in the rock ledges all along the Rio Grande, including those on the trail to the historical Hot Springs (no longer operated) in Big Bend National Park. It is a striking flower, yellow, funnel-shaped, about 1 1/4 inches long and 2 inches across. One of its outstanding features is the many yellow stamens extending well beyond the rest of the flower, with a tip of yellow pollen on each stamen, giving it a delicate, graceful appearance. The bright, showy flowers open only in bright sunshine. Leaves are 2–2 1/2 inches long, lobed and toothed in varying patterns.

I didn't get many pictures of the hot spring, several people were there when we arrived.  There was a walled off section and in one spot the hot water just flowed up through the a hole made of bricks.  The water was very warm, and even though it was a hot day it felt good to soak my feet. 

People from Mexico walked across the river here to sell things that they had made. But you are warned not to buy these things. 

Then back to Midland, about a 4 hour drive.  We picked up the dogs from the kennel, and played with them a bit.
In the morning back on the plane first to Houston, then on to Grand Rapids.  Here are some pictures as we came up to Lake Michigan.

Frozen Lake Michigan from the air.

 It was a good trip. 

Big Bend National Park, a trip to Texas - February 2014 (Part one)

Texas here we come...

We have had quite the winter here in Grand Haven Michigan, very cold and tons of snow.  I like the snow but it can warm up now, it is the end of February. 

Mike and I took a break from winter and visited our oldest son, Andy, (and family) in Midland, Texas.  Andy planned a fun trip for us while we visited, this time we went to Big Bend National Park.  This was our second trip to Big Bend, we went there in 2011.

Our first day in Midland, Mike and Andy took the dirt bikes for a ride at an adventure park. They rode around for a couple hours while I stayed with the truck and sought out bugs and plants.  I found a few bugs not many plants, and it was warm.

The next day we drove to Terlingua, Texas where we rented an Airstream motor home from Retro Rents.



The Retro Rents Airstream was fine for a home base, except for the fact that the water supply was not secure and twice flooded the back half of the unit. 

Andy has some property nearby which we visited (mostly when it was dark).  Here are a couple views from the high point of the property looking at the moon rising.

We hiked the next day to Cattail Falls, oh cattails that reminds me of marshy Michigan...

 Along the trail to Cattail Falls...

It was very warm and I think it was at this point my cold Michigan bones thawed, it felt good.

 Cattail Falls had some water trickling down, and there were cattails and a pond.

Rock reflecting in the pond.

I saw several butterflies, and some sort of red trumpet type flower, maybe Scarlet Sage.

    Back to the truck and air-conditioning. 

Just driving along there are mountains, beautiful mountains.  Texas also has a huge sky and it seems to be mostly blue.  Since Andy is a PhD geologist, and is familiar with Big Bend, he tells us interesting information, as we ride along, about the mountains and rocks.  Unfortunately, I remember very little of what he says, but I thoroughly enjoy listening.

We started seeing these flowers alongside the road, Andy pulled over so I could get out and photograph these beautiful wildflowers, Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis).  Wildflowers!

Next on to Santa Elena Canyon, we did a quick walk here, it was getting dark.  The water level was high in the Rio Grande River.  The rock on the left side of this photo is Mexico.

A pretty mountain in Big Bend National Park, Texas

A nice home in Grand Haven, Michigan. 

 

In case you are not familiar with the location of Big Bend National Park, I circled the approximate area in red on the map below. The park is huge with ~ 801,163 acres!  In the next post, the second half of the trip, including a river rafting trip on the Rio Grande River.